“When you teach a child something you take away forever his chance of discovering it for himself” (Life learning magazine, 2015). What does this quotation mean? Is it right to let children discover the world by them self? What happen if they make mistakes while doing so? Which was the intention of the person who said this? Actually, this quotation makes reference to Piaget’s theory of cognitive development. One more time human development is the topic of discussion for many psychologists and scientists. Two personalities collide in this topic; Jean Piaget, psychologist and philosopher best known for his theory about cognitive development, and Lev Vygotsky, developmental psychologist known for developing theories such as: zone of proximal development
…show more content…
According to his theory, cognitive development is divided into four stages. These stages are: sensorimotor period (0-2 years), preoperational period (2-7 years), concrete operational period (7-11 years), and formal operational period (11 years and up) (Kail, 2014, p. 120). Piaget believed that children construct their own understanding about everything around them. They create “schemes” or “psychological structures that organize experience” (Kail, 2014, p. 118). Basically, schemes are concepts that children create of an object when interacting with it. Children are constantly trying to discover and explain the world, they create their own concepts. These concepts are re-evaluated and most of the time they are corrected and improved. This way children learn how the world functions. Cognitive growth then occurs. Not considering the key role of the sociocultural environment on cognitive development is one of the weaknesses of Piaget’s theory. He emphasizes all the time in how children create and correct their schemes by them self. Nobody else is involved in this process of learning. Piaget does not give importance to the family or …show more content…
Lev Vygotsky with his sociocultural theory of development proposed the opposite. “Development is an apprenticeship in which children advance when they collaborate with others who are more skilled” (Kail, 2014, p. 138). He believed that children alone cannot make too much progress, they learn better when they receive some help. Unfortunately, Vygotsky died when he was 37 years old, so he could not develop his theory fully. Some of the main contributions of Vygotsky are: the zone of proximal development, scaffolding, and private speech. The zone of proximal development refers to what a child can/cannot do while someone else is helping. For example, a little boy is trying to eat bread by himself. He puts the bread in his mouth; consequently, he is unable to properly chew it. The same boy is assisted by her mother, so she tells him to cut the bread into little pieces. This way, the boy learns how easy is to eat bread once it is cut. Vygotsky also believed that the amount of help given to children needs to be measure. It is what he called scaffolding. Private speech is another contribution of Vygotsky to human development. It makes reference to “comments that are not intended for others but are designed to help children regulate their own behavior” (Kail, 2014, p. 139). Children talk to themselves in order to correct a behavior or to understand something
According to his theory, cognitive development is divided into four stages. These stages are: sensorimotor period (0-2 years), preoperational period (2-7 years), concrete operational period (7-11 years), and formal operational period (11 years and up) (Kail, 2014, p. 120). Piaget believed that children construct their own understanding about everything around them. They create “schemes” or “psychological structures that organize experience” (Kail, 2014, p. 118). Basically, schemes are concepts that children create of an object when interacting with it. Children are constantly trying to discover and explain the world, they create their own concepts. These concepts are re-evaluated and most of the time they are corrected and improved. This way children learn how the world functions. Cognitive growth then occurs. Not considering the key role of the sociocultural environment on cognitive development is one of the weaknesses of Piaget’s theory. He emphasizes all the time in how children create and correct their schemes by them self. Nobody else is involved in this process of learning. Piaget does not give importance to the family or …show more content…
Lev Vygotsky with his sociocultural theory of development proposed the opposite. “Development is an apprenticeship in which children advance when they collaborate with others who are more skilled” (Kail, 2014, p. 138). He believed that children alone cannot make too much progress, they learn better when they receive some help. Unfortunately, Vygotsky died when he was 37 years old, so he could not develop his theory fully. Some of the main contributions of Vygotsky are: the zone of proximal development, scaffolding, and private speech. The zone of proximal development refers to what a child can/cannot do while someone else is helping. For example, a little boy is trying to eat bread by himself. He puts the bread in his mouth; consequently, he is unable to properly chew it. The same boy is assisted by her mother, so she tells him to cut the bread into little pieces. This way, the boy learns how easy is to eat bread once it is cut. Vygotsky also believed that the amount of help given to children needs to be measure. It is what he called scaffolding. Private speech is another contribution of Vygotsky to human development. It makes reference to “comments that are not intended for others but are designed to help children regulate their own behavior” (Kail, 2014, p. 139). Children talk to themselves in order to correct a behavior or to understand something